At Rest
by Mai1
Summary: This time Jack Bristow's not alone after the events of Phase One.


Title: At Rest  
  
Author: Mai  
  
Email: Maisfeeka@AOL.com  
  
Feedback: Always nice  
  
Distribution: Cover Me. Any others, just let me know, please.  
  
Disclaimer: Alias and its characters do not belong to me. No copyright infringement is intended here. Ree is mine.  
  
Spoilers: Up through Phase One  
  
Summary: This time Jack Bristow isn't alone after the events of Phase One.  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Classification: Post Ep, angsty, AU  
  
A/N: Thanks to Karen and Tammy for the great betas! :) And for those of you who read "This Guy" and wrote to me to say you missed Ree. Well, here she is. :)  
  
******************  
  
She'd finally given up on sleep. The formless, terrifying nightmares had become too much. She figured she'd just get up, read a book, and wait till Jack got home -- at whatever time of the morning that might happen to be. She sighed, then reached for the book on her bedside table and let it take her somewhere else for awhile.  
  
When the phone rang she answered it absently, not even thinking about the incongruity of the phone ringing at that time of night -- or morning. The sound of Kendall's voice shocked her out of her little book-induced drowsiness.  
  
"Rhiannon? I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I thought you'd want to know. Jack --"  
  
And everything went grey as all the blood drained out of her head. He was dead. Kendall was calling to tell her he was dead. The sick feeling hit her stomach and chills ran up and down her spine. She couldn't seem to make herself take a breath.  
  
"... at SD-6," Kendall was saying.  
  
"I shouldn't be hearing this," she said automatically, even as she thought, ' who the hell cares anymore if it puts my life in danger? Jack's dead. Hell, I'll find Arvin Sloane and kill him myself. He'll never suspect me. I'll just walk right up to him and shoot him. Sure, his men will kill me afterwards, but who the hell cares? *Jack's dead*.'  
  
"Rhiannon? Rhiannon, are you listening to me?!"  
  
"Yes. I'm listening to you," she said dully. "Jack's dead."  
  
"Dammit, Rhiannon, would you pay attention for a change? Jack is *not* dead. He's not in the best of shape, but he's not on his deathbed. They want to keep him at least overnight for observation, and they've got him lightly sedated, but I thought you might want to come down and be with him."  
  
She couldn't respond, overwhelmed by her own emotions. Not dead. Not dead. And good lord, had she honestly been thinking of tracking Sloane down and killing him?  
  
"Okay, I'm going to assume you're still there and you've heard what I said. I've left word that they're to let you through to him when you get here. Grunt or something to let me know you've heard."  
  
She found her tongue enough to say yes, she'd heard and that she'd be right down, then sat there holding the phone while Kendall hung up muttering darkly about women.  
  
She was in the car and ready to turn the key in the ignition before she realized she hadn't thought to put clothes on. And while *Jack* might appreciate the nightgown she was wearing, she thought perhaps shoes and a little more clothing might be good. She pelted upstairs, threw on sweats and a loose T-shirt, and slipped on a pair of sneakers before trying to leave again.  
  
********************  
  
It was hard not to slam all the doors open and run down the hallway, but she managed to keep her composure long enough to let the medical personnel on duty know who she was and let them lead her to him.  
  
"I'm not sure if Director Kendall told you, but we do have him lightly sedated. He needs to relax and give the muscles -- particularly his heart -- time to recuperate from the electro-shock."  
  
She stopped and stared at the hapless med tech. "Electro-shock? What...? What the hell happened to him?"  
  
"I thought you said you'd talked to Director Kendall?"  
  
Ree waved her hand dismissively. "Pretend I didn't talk to him. *You* tell me -- what the hell happened?"  
  
"Agent Bristow's cover within SD-6 was compromised. He was tortured for some time, but we were able to rescue him when we took down SD-6 and the Alliance."  
  
"Took down SD-6 and the Alliance?" Ree knew she had to sound like an idiot, repeating everything, but she couldn't seem to stop herself.  
  
"Yes, ma'am, that's correct. He's right in here, if you want to see him."  
  
"Right. Yes. Yes, of course." She walked into the room followed by the med tech, who started shaking his head at Jack's monitor readings.  
  
"He's fighting the sedative. We can't seem to get him to let go."  
  
But Ree wasn't listening. She was watching Jack. He looked half dead -- grey and exhausted -- and his eyelids fluttered restlessly as though he were caught in one of her nightmares. Then she was beside him without any memory of crossing the room.  
  
He calmed almost as soon as she touched him -- stroking his cheek, then brushing a stray lock of hair off of his forehead. His hand closed over hers as his eyes opened. "Ree..."  
  
"I'm here," she said quietly.  
  
"SD-6 is gone," he said hoarsely. "After 20 years... Just gone. Overnight. I don't know --"  
  
She hushed him with a finger to his lips. "Shh ... it's all right. We'll figure it out in the morning. Right now you need to sleep."  
  
His hand tightened around hers. "Don't leave me alone... I dreamed. I dreamed that I was all alone again..."  
  
Her eyes filled despite her best intentions. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying right here."  
  
He nodded tiredly and let his eyes drift closed again. She hooked a chair with her leg and pulled it over without letting go of his hand. It took her some wriggling to get herself mostly comfortably situated, but when she was done she was in a position she knew she could maintain for a while.  
  
For the longest time she just sat and watched him as he slept, letting her free hand play with his hair. But after a while her own exhaustion began to catch up with her and she found herself dozing off. She fought it as long as she could, then finally resigned herself to the inevitable. She wriggled herself around in the chair again until she could rest her head on the bed next to his and then let herself drift off.  
  
Jack turned towards her in his sleep, bringing his free hand up to cup her face.  
  
Kendall found them like that when he stopped by a few hours later. He watched them for a moment, a half-smile playing over his face, then quietly closed the door and headed home himself.  
  
********************  
  
~Mai 


End file.
